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pybind
Standard library enum support via an optional include
Description
This change is a proof of concept implementation that allows C++ enums to be exposed as enum.Enum objects on the Python side. I've decided to make this change partly to spark a design discussion about what would make the most sense when trying to expose C++ enums as standard library enums.
- Should this functionality exist using a new class (as done here) or should we try to make it work with
enum_? This implementation uses a new object typestdlib_enum. Personally the backwards compatibility problems seem complex enough that making a new enum type is worthwhile, but there's a tradeoff of increased binary size. I think we would want to phase out the old enum class in favour of this new one. - Should you be able to add methods to enums? This one does not, but it's inflexible as a result.
- Should you be allowed to select the type of enum to create (
Enum,IntEnum,IntFlag)? If so, how? An optional argument to the constructor seems like the obvious choice. - What should the interface for creating these classes look like? Does using a destructor make sense as implemented here, does a
finalize()method make more sense? How should that interact with being able to add methods (if at all)? - Does an optional include (as done here) make sense or should this be integrated into pybind properly?
TODO: Properly implement name().
Currently there are no docs or tests because the design might change a lot.
Kudos to @aldanor who's design I started from.
Implemented #530
Suggested changelog entry:
TODO upon design decisions
Should you be allowed to select the type of enum to create (Enum, IntEnum, IntFlag)? If so, how? An optional argument to the constructor seems like the obvious choice.
Being able to pick the base stdlib class is nice, at least for using Flag/IntFlag which have highly readable reprs. In https://gist.github.com/anntzer/96f27c0b88634dbc61862d08bff46d10 (my own implementation of binding-to-stdlib enums), I simply pass the base class as a string, which in theory would even allow using third-party base enum classes with compatible signatures (e.g. for backporting to Py<3.4).
Ooh, saw this per @bstaletic's post in #2739 (issue: #2332). Will compare notes.
I spewed some text here: https://github.com/pybind/pybind11/issues/2332#issuecomment-750498155
If y'all have a chance, might you be able to weigh in on my opinions there? (i.e. rolling all the functionality into py::enum_ proper, rather than relying on macros / type_caster specialization)
Why didn't this go anywhere? This is still an issue in 2025!!
Did you see #5555, coincidentally merged yesterday.
This is a volunteer-driven community project.
